By Fred Ojambo
Bloomberg
March 11, 2008
Kenya plans to start branding its coffee to popularize the country's beans and boost earnings from the crop, the Nairobi Coffee Exchange said.
Coffee producers, traders and regulators in the East African country will meet next week to draft branding standards, Daniel Mbithi, chief executive officer of the exchange, said today in an interview from the capital, Nairobi. While a number of companies currently certify Kenya's coffee, each of them has their own standards, he said.
``We want to follow the example of Ethiopia,'' said Mbithi. ``By setting standards we shall be able to improve incomes from the crop.''
Ethiopia, where the arabica coffee variety originated, last year signed a licensing agreement with Starbucks Corp. under which the world's largest chain of coffee shops will increase marketing and promotion for the beans.
Output in Kenya may fall to 41,861 bags in the 12 months to Sept. 30, from 53,000 last season, after coffee-berry disease and bad weather cut yields, according to the Coffee Board of Kenya. Production may rebound 35 percent in 2008-2009 to 56,435 tons because of improved farm management and higher yields, it said.
Kenya harvests the bulk of its crop from October through December, while a secondary crop is reaped from April to June.
To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net
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